Makhura to ask the president to ditch e-tolls

Gauteng premier David Makhura says that he will engage President Cyril Ramaphosa on finding a “new and more equitable” funding model for e-tolls, which had added to the cost of living.

Delivering his state of the province address in the legislature in Johannesburg on Monday, Makhura said that the e-toll system had failed in Gauteng.

His announcement on engaging Ramaphosa on e-tolls was welcomed by opponents of the scheme, including ANC alliance partner Cosatu and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa).

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) said that its e-toll collections remained dismal and off target.

Sanral collected about R65m in an average month, when it should be collecting about R200m to meet its obligations, highlighting the extent of e-toll resistance.

“The new dawn [of the Ramaphosa-led government]

must also bring a solution to the protracted and unresolved problem of e-tolls,” Makhura said. “It is loud and clear for all to see that e-tolls have not worked,” he said.

He said e-tolls had added to the cost of living for many motorists and users of public transport in Gauteng.

“I will engage President Ramaphosa in order to find a new and more equitable funding model to support the continued expansion of Gauteng’s road network and public transport system. ‘Please send me,” Makhura said, referring to the Hugh Masekela song that Ramaphosa quoted during his first state of the nation address two weeks ago.

Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said that the trade union federation had taken note of the government’s previous messages that it would look at alternatives to the e-toll system.

“We ... insist that those gantries should fall, and e-tolls are not sustainable,” Pamla said.

The ANC should not just continue to make promises, but should just “do the right thing and get rid of e-tolls — simple as that”, he said.

The ANC also did not have a choice on the matter, as e-tolls had been rejected by the people, said Pamla.

Outa’s Wayne Duvenage said e-tolls had failed as a user-pays scheme. Outa has led the public resistance campaign against e-tolls since inception.

It was “never too late to undo a bad decision”, he said.

Duvenage also thanked Makhura for the announcement, but urged action.

“Four years and three months [and] the scheme has ... failed as a user-pay scheme,” Duvenage said.

Although Outa felt that the government had taken too long to undo its bad e-tolls decision, it welcomed Makhura’s announcement and expressed a willingness to work with

R65m the amount collected by Sanral in an average month

the premier on the issue. Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said that the roads agency would abide by whatever consensus politicians had reached on the matter, and that it would implement the decisions of the government of the day.

Collections were depressed. “It is way below what we have projected,” he said.

There had been a rise in the use of e-toll tags because they made it easier for road users to pass through toll gates, Mona said.

Road users who used the tag did not necessarily do so only in Gauteng, Mona said.